The Nonprofit Show
The Nonprofit Show is the nation’s daily broadcast for the business side of nonprofits — bringing you practical insights, expert interviews, and real-world strategies to help your organization run smarter, lead stronger, and fund better.
Each weekday, our co-hosts and guests break down the most current topics in fundraising, board governance, leadership, staffing, technology, communications, and financial strategy — giving nonprofit professionals the tools they need to build sustainable, high-performing organizations.
With more than 1,400 episodes and growing, our on-demand library is a trusted resource for executive directors, team members, fundraisers, board members, and sector leaders who are ready to move beyond inspiration and into implementation.
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The Nonprofit Show
Beyond Wealth Screening: Who Will Really Fund Your Nonprofit?
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Nonprofit prospect research beyond wealth screening requires more than locating wealthy people. It means finding funders with the capacity, mission alignment, and relationship connections that can lead to a credible fundraising conversation.
Shahar Brukner, Co-Founder, President, and CRO of Impala Digital, explains why traditional nonprofit wealth screening often leaves development teams with plenty of data—but no clear path to a donor.
Shahar organizes effective prospect research around three business priorities: capacity, alignment, and relationships. A prospective donor may possess enormous wealth, but that does not mean the person supports your cause, makes gifts at the level you need, or can be reached through someone they trust.
As Shahar explains, “If someone has a relationship to my organization through the board or through a donor…they automatically become a prospect.”
Impala has assembled public nonprofit and philanthropic data reaching back to 2014. Shahar says its platform includes information on approximately 16 million people and more than 213 million connections, serving over 10,000 nonprofits and nearly 2,000 foundations, grantmakers, and advisors.
The conversation also examines how AI may make genuine relationships even more important. Shahar offers: “If it gets very easy to communicate with someone…then the level of connection needs to go up.”
This episode offers a sharper way to evaluate prospects, activate board networks, approach funders respectfully, and turn data into a disciplined relationship-building strategy.
Key Takeaways:
Evaluate prospects through capacity, mission alignment, and relationships—not estimated wealth alone.
Replace “Who do you know?” with specific, researched introduction requests for board members.
Prioritize connected prospects before chasing the largest foundations or wealthiest individuals.
Treat an initial gift as the beginning of a longer cultivation and stewardship process.
Record donor intelligence and relationship history accurately in the organization’s CRM.
Expect AI-generated application volume to push some funders toward invitation-based or relationship-led grantmaking.
00:00:00 Who Can Really Fund Your Nonprofit?
00:01:43 Building a Data Platform for Philanthropy
00:03:02 When a Three-Month Fundraising Plan Takes 18 Months
00:05:14 Where Traditional Wealth Screening Falls Short
00:06:43 Capacity, Alignment, and Relationships
00:10:34 Why Board Connections Remain Underused
00:11:17 Stop Asking Board Members “Who Do You Know?”
00:12:40 Mapping the Nonprofit Sector’s Relationship Network
00:16:10 Start With Connected Prospects, Not the Biggest Funders
00:19:59 Donor Research, Privacy, and Transparency
00:24:01 How AI Is Changing Grant Applications
00:26:49 Turning Fundraising Data Into Smarter Decisions
#NonprofitFundraising #ProspectResearch #DonorResearch
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